SpiritSeven Publishing

Create, Inspire, Escape

SpiritSeven Publishing

the Misson

To create, inspire and escape

I was born by the river in a little tent. Oh and just like the river, I been running every since. It's been a long, a long time coming but I know change goin come. -- Sam Cooke

The words sing so true of what life is about - CHANGE. It will come even when you're not looking for it.

Shandra started writing poetry at the age of 13. It was during a classroom assignment to pen a Haiku that Shandra had taken an interest in the genre. She enjoyed writing the Haiku so much so that she wrote one for her classmate too. Shandra's classmate was first to turn in the Haiku and the teacher LOVED it! Naturally, Shandra was confident that her poem would receive the same praise, after all she wrote both pieces. To her surprise, the teacher criticized the poem so much that she was left in tears. That was a defining moment in Shandra's life, it was the first time she defended her work but it also marked the day that Shandra became a closet writer as she vowed never to share her work again.

Things changed in 1999, shortly after the passing of her grandmother, Mattie Dearborn Hayes. During her grandmother's battle with Cancer, she shared some wisdom, "don't end up at the end reflecting on the should haves, could haves and would haves." With those words, Spirit Publishing was born.

Pearls of Life was published in December 2000. Three years later, Reconstruction...Society Held Accountable was published. During that time, Shandra began performing poetry as a spoken word artist and became the host at the Poetry Joint in Arlington, TX. But that road was short lived as she was diagnosed with an illness which stalled her steps as a writer.

It was the Fall of 2007, that Shandra decided to use the diagnosis as a stepping stone to achieve her goals. She credits the diagnosis as her wake up call. During this journey, Shandra became politically active in the 2008 Obama Presidential Campaign that earned she and her son an invitation on the Inaugural Whistle Stop Tour as well as guests at the Inauguration and Balls. Shandra did not take this opportunity lightly as she knew it was God. Shandra has always felt that her journey, her life is much bigger than her and God showed with the President Obama experience.

Not only did Shandra continue to write but she has shared her words by publishing more books; love to love...love to be loved was completed in 2009 (published 2011), followed with battle of the HAIR in 2011, #beautyisacceptance...life is a good teacher in 2014 and little black book...truths in 2015.